Welcome | Site Map | Overview | Business Software Development | Database Development | Web Application Development | Microsoft Office Solutions | Portfolio | Development approach | Overview | Features & Benefits | View Screenshots | Watch a Demo | Product tour | Pricing | Free Trial Download | tour-options | tour-gen | tour-proj | tour-select | tour-solution | tour-templates | | Article list | Learn regular expressions | Clipboard monitor | DataAccess layer design | Intellisense for Web.config | Intellisense for XSL in VS.NET | Using the CommandBuilder in .NET | Advanced Regex | Contact |

Free Regular Expression Designer

Rad Software Regular Expression Designer is a free download that helps programmers learn, develop and test Regular Expressions. It is an interactive Windows application that is designed to be simple and easy to use.

Features

  • The Regex match results are listed in a tree with levels for Matches, Groups and Captures. Clicking on a Match, Group or Capture will highlight it in the Input text window
  • Regex.Replace is supported and the results of the replace are listed in a separate window.
  • The Language Element window is an embedded reference that gets you up to speed quickly. Click on an item to see a description in the pane below, double-click a language element to add it to your Regex
  • Find text in any of the text windows with Ctrl+F
  • Flexible interface with dockable windows
  • Now supports very large values for the input text

Regular Expression Designer Main Window

.NET Framework 1.1/2.0 Required

The Regular Expression Designer is requires the .NET Framework to be installed before it will run. The .NET Framework can be downloaded for free from Microsoft. [Get the .NET Framework]

Download

Download the Regular Expression DesignerDownload Rad Software Regular Expression Designer v1.4 (~209 KB)

Updated to Version 1.4

The Regular Expression Designer has been updated to v1.4. The changes include:

  • Regex is run in another thread so long running expressions can be cancelled.
  • Regular Expressions can be saved to a file and reloaded.
  • A new installer program has been used. Will install on Windows vista (does not check .NET Framework version)

Changes in v1.1

  • All text boxes (Input text, Regular expression, Replace expression and Replace results) are no longer limited to 32k.
  • Added the Language element reference window. Double-click on an item to insert it into your Regex.
    Note: If you are upgrading this window will not appear until you choose Show All from the View menu.

Changes in v1.1

  • Added a Find box to search in any of the textboxes. Just select a textbox and press Ctrl+F. Great when the input text is large.
  • All textboxes have vertical and horizontal scrollbars.
  • Updated to use v1.1 of the .NET Framework.

Getting started with the Regular Expression Designer

  1. Start the Regular Expression Designer from the Desktop shortcut or from the Start Menu
  2. Arrange the windows by dragging a window by its title to the edge of the screen or on top of another window title
  3. Enter some text to test the Regex against in the Input Text window
  4. Enter a Regular Expression in the Regular Expression window
  5. Click on the Match Expression button or press F5 to run the Regular Expression against the Input Text
  6. Matches are listed in the Match Results window
  7. Click on a Match to highlight the match within the Input Text

Learn Regular Expression Syntax

If you are not familiar with Regular Expressions see the article on this site:
Learn Regular Expression (Regex) Syntax for .NET